Help with media system

godinman · 24 Mar 2012 at 11:05

Hi All,

Just moved into a new house and am trying to figure out what system to use for the TV.

I was going to go for BT Vision, but looking into it it appears to be 1) crap, and 2) basically freeview with 4od and iplayer.

So I'm now looking at different options, my requirements are -

1 - Freeview, probably. We have done without this before and found internet TV to be absolutely fine. But it would be nice - dual tuner for recording and HD would be a bonus.

2 - Iplayer, 4od definately. Demand 5 and ITV would be good too.

3 - Maybe lovefilm or some sort of pay per view films?

4 - DVD player, blueray would be nice.

5 - Ease of use. I don't want to be messing about with it all the time, and I'd rather everything was controlable via a remote control, rather than a bluetooth keyboard/mouse.

Options -

- A HTPC seems to be a very flexible option, it'll do everything I want it to, but I'm stuggling to find any good media software which lets me do all of this easily via a single menu.

- Xbox 360? I hear you can view live freeview somehow using this, if you have a W7 pc running with the stick in it, any other method of doing this, as it sounds like a pain in the arse! It's compatible with all the demand services I want, and good for media streaming (music, films etc from nas).

- PS3, seems to do everything I want, using PlayTV.

That's where I'm stuck really.

Are there any single box solutions that will let me do everything I want?

Any good HTPC software?

An Xbox freeview tuner?

PS3 - can I stream music and films from a NAS?

Thanks for any help, I really just want a system I don't need to spend hours tweaking and messing about with, I want something that 'just works'.

Cheers.

godinman · 24 Mar 2012 at 20:32

Thanks for the reply, can't properly respond as the internet isn't on here yet! I'll have a look at that software, I'm happy to tweak to get it set up, so long as it works simply when its done..

Cheers

godinman · 25 Mar 2012 at 22:51

It does seem to be a toss up between the two, I'll take a look at the mediaportal software, if it looks good I'll trial install it on the lappy and go from there.

The ps3 option is very tempting, and could probably be paid for by selling the mini-itx kit I've got lying around for the media portal option, making them both cost pretty much the same!

Hmmm...

godinman · 26 Mar 2012 at 08:10

I've had a look at media portal, it looks absolutely mint. :cool:

Will download as soon as my broadband is activated and have a good play, looks slick tho.

Cheers for the advice guys

Now to find a mini-itx case to fix behind my wall-mounted flatscreen...

godinman · 26 Mar 2012 at 13:23

Thanks for that, looks good, although I've got a mini-itx system, it could just do with a smaller case...

Saying that, what I think I'll do is channel the mains/hdmi into the render/plaster and place the box in/on a unit near the TV, that way I'll be able to access the front easily for blu-rays and DVD's.